*******Representation in America's Legislatures*******

***README FILE***

This zip file contains data for the Michigan Senate:

mis9900_README.txt: Explains the layout of roll call data files and provides general project
information
mis9900_rc.dta: Stata 8SE file containing roll call data
mis9900_rc.csv: Comma delimited text file containing roll call data
mis9900_summaries.txt: Text file containing bill name, session, and procedure 
		       information for matching roll calls with the bill summaries
mis9900_bill_summaries.rtf: Rich Text File containing complete bill introduction lists from the 
	                    1999-2000 sessions (This files works best in Microsoft Word)
	                    
Attribution: If you use the data, please include this citation:
Wright, Gerald. 2004. "Representation in America's Legislatures." Indiana University: National Science
Foundation Grant.

Funding for the Representation in America's Legislatures project was provided by the Political Science
Program of the Division of Social and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation (SES-0094635
and SES-0242571).

**Important Notes
Only competitive roll calls are included in these files.  A competitive roll call is one in which 5% or
more of legislators voting voted in the minority.  All roll calls with less than 5% of legislators
voting in the minority are defined as non-competitive and not included in these files.

For a detailed description of the roll call collection see:
http://www.indiana.edu/~ral/ral_papers.htm

**Roll Call Files:

Variable Identification:
chid: Chamber identification: state abbreviation plus chamber (s=senate, h=house) (string)
dist: Legislator's district (string)
first: First name of legislator (string)
last: Last name of legislator (string)
pid: Party identification: 0=Republican, 1=Democrat, 2=Other (numeric)
rc's: 0=no, 1=yes, All other votes=. (numeric)

NOTES:	In district 13, Shirley Johnson replaced Bouchard, who retired in 1999 to become Oakland
	Co. Sheriff.

**Summary File:

To match the summaries with the roll calls and vote procedures use the mis9900_summaries.txt 
file to locate the session year and bill name, and then search the mis9900_bill_summaries.rtf
file to find the bill summary.
